TIGO TANZANIA AND DEEZER LAUNCH 36 MILLION-TRACK MUSIC STREAMING SERVICE

Dar es Salaam, January 13th, 2015.  Tigo today announced the launch of Tigo Music through a partnership with Deezer, the international music streaming service that will provide Tanzanians with unlimited music experience.

Announcing the launch of the new service in Dar es Salaam, Tigo Brand Manager, William Mpinga said through pre-paid data bundles from January 24, Tigo customers will be able to access more than 36 million tracks, including African and Tanzanian artistes, on their phones and tablets.

Additionally, Tigo will also be sourcing exciting new and local content through a new venture with the digital music company, Africa Music Rights, which funds, acquires and manages music rights across the African continent. Mpinga said.

There will be a launch ceremony for Tigo Music at Dar es Salaam’s Leaders Club grounds on January 24 where members of the public will be treated to live performances by leading local musicians such as Diamond Platinum, Ali Kiba, Professor J, Vanessa Mdee, Ben Paul, Isha Mashauzi, Malaika Band, Khadija Kopa, Yamoto Band, Msondo, Sikinde among others.

Apart from giving Tigo customers unlimited access to local and international music, Tigo Music, according to Mr. Mpinga, will accord local artists with an opportunity earn extra payment from their songs listened to through the service. Tigo will provide them training on how to use and benefit from the service, he said.

“Tigo Tanzania is a company built on innovation. We are excited to be the first telecommunication company in Tanzania to give our customers such access to unlimited music.

“As a digital lifestyle brand, our goal is to impact the music industry by providing a platform that not only allows for easy access to content by local artists, but also train our musicians on important issues such as intellectual property rights and marketing. This is our way of supporting local talent and growing the local music industry.” he added.

Tigo will introduce a variety of music service packages which will allow customers access through *148*00#.

The introduction of Tigo Music in Tanzania follows the success of its launch in Ghana in 2014 and Latin America in 2013. It has since become an integral part of people’s daily digital lives and synonymous with live music events headlined by some of the world’s best-known artists as well as with close-up studio recordings.

Music streaming is the fastest growing area for the global music industry and music content is already the second most popular mobile phone feature in sub-Saharan Africa.

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Jubilee, Vodacom partner in health insurance

VODACOM Head of Marketing & Communications, Mr Kelvin Twissa, clarifies procedures to purchase health insurance services via M-Pesa during the launch of a product known as bimaAFYA to the Deputy Commissioner of Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authority (TIRA), Mr Juma Makame in Dar es Salaam yesterday. Looking on is Jubilee Insurance Company Tanzania CEO, Mr George Alande

AT last the insurance sector in partnership with Vodacom Tanzania has made access to health services easily affordable to many people in the low-income bracket.

This follows a health cover launched by Jubilee Insurance Company Tanzania, a leading Insurance provider in East Africa, powered by Vodacom’s M-PESA.

The product known as bimaAFYA is an affordable and comprehensive medical cover that will provide individuals and family premium cover at low price range while giving the users access to over 150 hospitals.

The insured will get inpatient, out-patient and maternity services in the hospitals. bimaAFYA is designed to cater for monthly, tri-monthly, quarterly and yearly packs at affordable premium prices.

“Like other African countries, Tanzania has for a long time been accused of lacking a culture of adopting insurance covers to cater for the needs of her population.

“However we believe that the real reason is the high cost of medical insurance packages currently in the market which favour the corporate staff.

There is a large percentage of the population who still pay for their medical expenses out of pocket,” said Mr Kelvin Twissa, Vodacom Head of Marketing and Communications.

“bimaAFYA, will therefore enable many Tanzanians to enrol in a medical insurance service equivalent to what M-PESA is to the financial services,” added Mr Twissa.

The Jubilee Insurance company of Tanzania CEO, Mr George Alande, noted that statistics indicate that only 18 per cent of the Tanzanian population have health insurance.

He said those covered were mainly employer based medical insurance covers because only a few individuals could afford current prices.

According to the Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authority (TIRA) in 2013, medical insurance premium compared to the total premium for insurance market was only 19 per cent of the total short term insurance covers sold.

“We need to increase this by covering all the Tanzanians who are able to pay the premiums charged under bimaAFYA product,” he said.

Source: Dailynews

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Kenya to receive M-SASA mobile payment platform

Dubai Bank Kenya has revealed a partnership with Rapid Communications. The partnership aims to launch a mobile banking platform called M-SASA.

According to both parties, M-SASA will allow clients to check their balances, request mini-statements, deposit and withdraw cash as well as transfer funds to other accounts from their mobile devices. The bank’s customers will also be able to track the progress of loan applications and pay bills when utilising the service.

Hassan Zubeidi, chairman of Dubai Bank Kenya, stated that: “Banks can no longer ignore the unbanked population and the only way to capture the masses is by moving banking to mobile. Rapid Communications will also maintain Dubai Bank’s mobile banking service and to assist in expanding its customers base with various innovations from its Mobile Financial Services.”

The company is currently working on a similar project for KUSCCO, which will see SACCO transactions move to the mobile platform that has been named “KUSCCO Pay.”

Source: ITNews

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Millicom announces support for SMS-based AU Ebola initiative

International telecommunications and media company Millicom has announced its support for the African Union’s campaign to raise funds for its fight against the Ebola virus in West Africa using an SMS dedicated platform to raise funds for the deployment of African health workers to affected countries.

AU’s ‘#AfricaAgainstEbola’ is based on an SMS dedicated platform to raise funds for the deployment of African health workers to affected countries to combat the disease that has claimed over five thousand lives across some parts of West Africa.

At a recent Business Roundtable on Ebola hosted by the AU, mobile operators committed to support efforts to fight Ebola by unveiling an Africa-wide three-month campaign dubbed, ‘Africa against Ebola’. This will focus on donations from members of the public who are customers of the operators and will be channelled into fighting the Ebola Virus.

The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, said: “We are conscious of the urgent need for all of us to do more, and to act fast. It is only by acting together will we ensure that our continent and world is free of Ebola. Let me repeat our call to all Africans to lead the global efforts of solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.”

The SMS fundraising campaign will use the short code 7979 with local adaptations where technology requires. Customers will be asked to text ‘Stop Ebola’ to this code in order to donate in their respective countries. Mobile Operators across Africa including Airtel, Econet Wireless, Etisalat, MTN Group, Orange, Safaricom, Vodacom and Vodafone Ghana are participating in this campaign which will run between now and the end of February 2015.

Rachel Samrén, Project leader of the joint-operator campaign and Executive Vice President Strategic Operations and Partnerships at Millicom, commented “it has been a privilege to work with sector peers on this important cause and the spirit and determination of the operator group to get the campaign up and running has been truly inspiring. We are delighted to be part of the campaign which complements our internal employee matching donation campaign as well as the personal pledge of our Chairman to the Africa Against Ebola fund.”

Source:Humanipo

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CRDB Bank upgrades SIM banking

IN a bid to provide efficient and secure services, CRDB Bank has further improved its SIM Banking to accommodate new features that give customers the conveniences to perform more transactions at any location in the world.

Mobile phones have clearly shown that they can be an effective channel to provide financial services including remittances, savings or even loans.

So, banks have an opportunity to utilise mobile phones to reach out to their customers. This was unveiled at the weekend by the CRDB Bank Managing Director, Dr Charles Kimei, at a news conference on improvement made on SIM Banking.

"CRDB Bank is always seeking to create easy and less cost accessibility to the banking services to its customers," he said, adding this is why the bank is incorporating its services with the fast changing mobile money technology which is the future of the banking sector.

Dr Kimei urged its customers to register with the SIM Banking established in 2008, which gives them best and different options of performing bank transactions at any location.

Currently, over 300,000 CRDB Bank customers are using SIM Banking in its database with over one million customers.

According to Finscope 2013 report, more than 30 million Tanzanians own or use mobile phone but only 12 million use the cellphones to perform money transactions.

Statistics reveal further that the bankable population is around 17 per cent of the 45 million total population. The data offers the banking sector with the huge opportunity to spread its services to the unbankable population in rural areas, thus complimenting the government initiative of financial inclusion.

The CRDB Manager Electronic Banking, Mr Mangire Kibanda, said the bank has simplified the SIM Banking registration where customers register for themselves without visiting the bank branches.

SIM Banking present customers with an easy, hassle-free and convenient way to pay your bills like electricity, water, and airtime. Some of the companies incorporated into the SIM Banking include Dawasco, Moruwasa and Startimes. Also, money transactions through M-PESA and TIGO-Pesa.

The CRDB Director of Risk and Compliance, Mr James Mabura, cautioned customers to avoid disclosing the bank account particulars to people or hackers, who present themselves as CRDB staff having an ill will to steal their money.

Also, he urged customers to keep secure their pin number which are used in performing ATM and mobile money transactions.

Source:Dailynews

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Get an SMS message on your mobile phone when your salary has arrived-NMB Salary Alert

What is it?

With the NMB Salary Alert, you will receive an SMS message every time your salary has been deposited into your account.
You will no longer have to go and visit the bank to make certain that it has been paid into your account. This will save you a lot of time, money and inconvenience

For Whom ?

NMB Salary Alert is a product for all employees in Tanzania who get their salary deposited into their NMB Personal Account.

How to buy?

Just visit your nearest branch and collect an application form. It is as simple as that and it will work straight away. No more unnecessary trips to your local bank, but the essential information you need at your fingertips!

Where to buy?

If you are interested in this product, please contact your nearest NMB branch. You can use the branch finderon this website to find the one closest to you. 

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